Bluelight.com's subscribers dwindle, Microsoft protests sale
Microsoft and other companies have filed objections to the proposed sale of Bluelight.com to United Online, according to this News.com story, "citing software licensing and tax issues among their concerns. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago is slated to hear Kmart's motion on the sale Wednesday."
Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, citing weak holiday sales and fierce competition. At that time, Kmart said it wanted to sell its Internet service provider as part of an effort to focus only on its core retailing business.
...Bluelight.com, which consists of the ISP and Kmart's e-commerce Web site, was valued at about $80 million for the combined company in August 2001. Subscribers to the service once numbered 7 million but have dwindled to about 165,000.